Cheap Henry Jaglom's Eating - A Very Serious Comedy About Women and Food (DVD) (Nelly Alard, Lisa Blake Richards, Frances Bergen) (Henry Jaglom) Price

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Customer Reviews of Henry Jaglom's Eating - A Very Serious Comedy About Women and Food

While something of a "chick flick", men will come away from this film with plenty to think about. Whole film is a real conversation-starter, highly amusing and never gets too heavy. Excellent and very unique in subject matter. Amazing how seldom we see people eating and enjoying their food in movies, yet it is such an important part of our lives. Hollywood sense of beauty is blasted between the lines.

Only aspect I objected to was the lack of polish in the production itself. It could have been visually smoother in parts. But Jaglom films always look like this, I suppose. Still a winner.

don't offer these women a cherry pie!
One has to wonder about Henry Jaglom's mother, when he dedicates a film about women suffering from eating disorders to her. This is one of Jaglom's more successful efforts since there is some dramatic conflict amongst the cinema verite talkfest that is his trademark. One might even mistake this film as a documentary with all the to-the-camera discourse. Otherwise his camera is thankfully still, aided by the excuse of a Frenchwoman making a documentary at an exclusively female (and enormously populated) birthday party. Maybe it's a very "L.A." thing but it's shocking how so many beautiful women have food issues, and the association they make with food and sex, and food and love, makes for a compelling (for Jaglom) social study. He begins uncertainly, as the women gather. Jaglom gets a little carried away with cross-cutting, and there is a definite lesbian subtext which turns out to be misleading. But as the film develops our initial judgment of the women presented, as shallow and stupid gives way to depths of feeling and marvel at the openness and emotional accessibility of the female species. As the eldest of the group and the mother of Helene (Lisa Richards), who resides in the house where the celebrations occur, Frances Bergen represents the voice of reason and the sounding board for the confessions. Jaglom cleverly maintains our empathy for her, aided by Bergen's wonderful naturalness, even when her reaction to news of an infidelity defines the survival strategies of women of her generation. In spite of the heaviness of the subject, there is much humour to be found, partly from the women's own insight into their behaviour, and also from the idea of having Helene seek out the mistress under the guise of mingling. Richards' performance improves considerably after she stops pecking. As her predatory best friend, Gwen Welles adds some amusing spite to the proceedings. Her demonstration of the use of a present of anger-releasing padded poles gets a big laugh. It's no surprise to learn of Welles' bulimia since she looks anorexic, and she is about the only one who doesn't seem to think they are "fat". When the birthday cake is cut, no-one wants to eat it. Since the cast is so large some actors get lost in the mosaic, but mention should be made of Toni Basil in Carmen Miranda get-up as an actress quitting her agent ("If Michael Jackson can fire his father ..."); Aloma Ichinose who has a great riff about smoking; and Mary Crosby looking like a fawn and being very I-shot-JR in a bathroom confrontation. I particularly liked the line "I'm looking for a man who can excite me as much as a baked potato".

Offbeat look at women and their eating habits
This movie is hilarious and sad at the same time. Henry Jaglom assembled an enormous cast of recognizable but mostly unknown actresses in this examination of Southern California women and their eating habits. There are three sympathetic characters in this film: (1) the lovely French protagonist played by Nelly Alard, who has come to Los Angeles to do a documentary on eating, finding perfect fodder in the many attendees of a party thrown to celebrate the birthdays of three different women; (2) the mother of the birthday girl whose home is the setting for this potentially disastrous gathering (played with aplomb by Candice Bergen's own mother); and (3) Mary Crosby who is refreshing as the kind and balanced best friend of the birthday girl/host. Everyone else seems to be out-of-her-mind neurotic when it comes to food. I watched this movie in total fascination because I personally don't know any women like these but know who they are (that makes no sense unless you've seen this film). Dare I say it - most of these women are snotty, superficial and whiny, but totally representative of a certain type of woman indigenous to wealth and So Cal. Just view it and you'll see what I mean. We discover everyone's passionate responses to food through the eyes of the film maker, as she interviews each woman throughout the long afternoon. One of the funniest and most definitive scenes in EATING shows three birthday cakes on the table, and one bedeviled slice being passed around as all the women refuse it. The humor in EATING is in recognizing the eating habits/problems that so many women will be able to relate to. It is also the saddest thing about this movie. That, and how nasty and self centered most of these women are. Although there are no men in this film, I recommend anyone, male or female, watch it. Short of a documentary (and I've never seen one on this subject), this film is curious, funny and educational. Jaglom presents a huge cast whose characters are so engaging, you don't seem to lose track of or interest in them.